[Ads-l] jawbone = credit

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS 2 has lots on this. Also v.

JL

On Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 12:49 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> Stefan Dollinger of The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles
> posted "jawbone" = 'credit' as the "Canadian Word of the Week" on Twitter.
> DCHP-2 has a Canadian cite from 1865. Jesse Sheidlower pointed out that OED
> has this from 1862 -- referring to California, though it's labeled as
> originally Canadian:
>
> ---
> 1862   Times 21 Oct. 9/4   Individuals who, in digger's parlance, live on
> jawbone (credit).
> ---
>
> OED likely got this from Hotten's 1864 slang dictionary:
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=diRKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA161
>
> Here's a slight antedating from a Canadian source.
>
> ---
> The Daily British Colonist (Victoria, BC), 10 July 1862, p. 3, col. 1
> He must, therefore, _hunt the lead_, which occupation is now engaging the
> time and labor of all who can afford the luxury, i.e., who have sufficient
> means or a good _jawbone_ (credit) for their subsistence _ad interim_.
> https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist18620710uvic/
> 18620710#page/n2/mode/1up/search/jawbone
> ---
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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